Category: Baseball

Blame TBS

I would like to publicly state that anything I do wrong today (and probably tomorrow too) will be blamed on the Turner Broadcasting System.

Last night my home town baseball team, the Boston Red Sox, played a game that started at 8:30pm. Assuming that the average game runs about three hours, in order for me to go to sleep at a decent enough time to get myself at least seven hours of sleep, I would have to stop watching approximately half way through the game.

During the regular season, most East coast teams start their games at either 7:00 or 7:30pm. Both teams in last nights game, and by extension the overwhelming majority of their fans, are on the East coast. Why then was the start time for the game set at 8:30? It’s disgusting enough that the games start so late that no school age child could ever dream of watching the entire game, but no adult who wishes to be productive at work the next day could stay up for the whole thing either.

I’m not even complaining about the four hours the game actually lasted. That isn’t TBS’ fault (although those commercial breaks between innings sure seemed longer than regular season breaks, didn’t they? I should watch with a stop watch next time to see how long they actually are), but it’s also irrelevant. Anyone on the East coast who works a 9-5 job would still be sleep deprived if the game had been three hours long.

It’s all about money though. If they run two games in one day without overlapping them, then they can sell 18 innings worth of ad space instead of having to split 9 innings of ad space between two Turner networks. The actual people who would like to watch the entire game are not even considered in the advertising equation.

I stayed up for the entire game last night. The final out was made at about 12:30am this morning and I can honestly say that as soon as the game ended I was in bed with the lights off, and I was dead asleep before the Red Sox left the field. My alarm clock then went off at 5:00am. TBS could care less.

Game Three

Tonight at 6:00pm Eastern time… Game three of the ALDS Between the vile, evil, twisted, perverse Tampa Bay Rays and the Heroic, Majestic, Knights in Shining Armor known as the Boston Red Sox.

It’s another great pitching match up with Buchholz going against Cobb (not Ty). If the Red Sox keep playing the way they have been they should be able to win. If the Rays keep making bone head plays in the field, they should continue to lose. Some of the idiot moves in their outfield have me on the verge of wondering if any of them are wearing black socks.

One philosophical question: if the Rays play a home game in the playoffs and there are no fans in the stands to see it, does it really happen? I’m curious to see their attendance today.

Go Red Sox!

Win Win Win

The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead in their ALDS series against Tampa Bay with a 7-4 win tonight. David Ortiz hit two home runs. The second has yet to land.

The Bruins beat the Red Wings 4-1. They are 2-0 on the young season.

Some fat boy got new glasses.

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Win, win, win.

MLB Goes More to Plan

After two of my picks got trounced in the first two games of the divisional series, things went more to plan tonight. The Pirates won game two. So did the Braves. The A’s are blowing my good day as they are losing 3-0 in the fourth inning.

Most important though, the Mighty Bearded Red Sox blew out the Rays in game one. Tampa Bay’s defense was just plain awful and Boston took constant advantage of the miscues. The final score was 12-2.

And all was right in Red Sox Nation.

Division Series Match Ups

Well now that the wild card games are over, I am officially 1-1 on baseball post season predictions. Yippee. I really wanted Cleveland, but I knew Tampa Bay was going to win. Damn it.

Now for the Division Series picks.

Boston Red Sox vs Tampa Bay Rays. Oh good, the team I didn’t want to see the Red Sox face in the first round is the team the Red Sox will face in the first round. It doesn’t matter though, the bearded Bostonians will rain down pain and suffering upon the Rays like Grant raining cannon fire into Vicksburg. (see what I did there? Long beards equals civil war references. Get used to it) As if there was any doubt, I am picking the Red Sox.

Detroit Tigers vs Oakland Athletics. Do I follow my brain or do I follow my gut? My brain tells me that the logical choice is the Tiggers (T-I-Double guh-Rrrrr). My gut, however, says to go with the A’s. I’m pretty sure I went with the A’s last year and got burned. This year… I think I am going with the A’s again.

St. Louis Cardinals vs Pittsburgh Pirates. Again, I’m going with my gut over my head. I am picking the Pirates. We are family and all that. I am on the wagon. Officially. That pretty much guarantees that the Cardinals will win in a sweep, but I am sticking with the Pirates.

Los Angeles Dodgers vs Atlanta Braves. There is no way on this Earth or any other that I will ever root for this Dodgers team. No offense to Nick Punto, but Hell No. I am picking the Braves. Do you think if the Sox and the Braves meet in the World Series we might see some sort of exhibition game at the site of the old Braves Feild? I didn’t think so either.

So I am on record as rooting for a Boston/Oakland ALCS, and a Pittsburgh/Atlanta NLCS. You heard it here first.

Wild Card Games

Well Robbie, that was a good way to kick of baseball’s post season. I picked the Reds to win the wild card play-in against the Pirates and the Pirates owned the game from the first pitch to the last. I am officially 0-1 in playoff predictions so far.

The American League game is tonight. The Rays and the Indians. I am rooting for the Indians because I think the Red Sox have a better chance at beating them in the Divisional Series than they do the Rays. However, this is a prediction post. I predict that the Rays will win and advance to face my team. Hopefully this time tomorrow I will be 0-2 in my prognosticating.

Oh, and the NHL started last night. No lock outs this year. I flipped the channel from TBS to VS (or whatever the hell it’s called now… NBC Sports or something?) just in time to see the Blackhawks unfold the Stanley Cup banner. Oh the hell with that. I switched back to TBS. The Bruins open against Tampa Bay on Thursday. No Stanley Cup banner raising ceremony for us this year.

Home Field Advantage

Hello and welcome to the final day of the Major League Baseball regular season. As of yesterday, there is nothing left for the Red Sox to play for. Just as the Sox vs Orioles game was starting, the A’s lost their game. That guaranteed the Red Sox home field advantage through the American League playoffs. The AL’s win at the all star game guarantees the AL pennant winners home field in the World Series. So the Sox could potentially have home field all the way through the post season. That has a nice ring to it.

Boston has 97 wins with one game left to play. After the nightmare horror of last season, I was optimistic that they could win 81 games. Let’s look at the current standings and see where an 81 win season would have placed us. How does second to last in the AL East ahead of only Toronto sound? It sounds like a huge improvement over last year, that’s what it sounds like. It also looks really depressing to finish behind the Yankees yet again. Fortunately, we’re just cruising our way to the best record in the entire American League. I cannot overstate how happy I am with this team. What a great season, and hopefully the best is yet to come.

As for the Division Series match ups, they are set for the Division winners. Oakland plays Detroit and Boston plays the wild card winner. The wild card race is still up in the air. Neither spot in the AL has been clinched yet. With one game still to be played, Cleveland (91-70) has a one game lead over Texas and Tampa Bay (both at 90-71). Tampa Bay plays Toronto today at 1:00, Cleveland plays the Twins at 2:00, and Texas plays the Angels at 3:00 (all times are Eastern). If the race ends with two teams tied for the second wild card spot, there will be a one game playoff on Monday (to decide who gets to play in the one game playoff… confusing, eh? Just wait, it gets worse) with the team that won the season series hosting. If the race ends in a three way tie it gets really strange.

The league has a formula where they designate the three teams as Teams A, B, and C. I am not sure about this, but I think the slotting is based on winning percentage against the other two teams, with the team with the best record getting to chose which slot they want. Cleveland is team A, Tampa Bay is team B, and Texas is team C. What does that mean? On Monday, Cleveland would host Tampa Bay. The winner gets the first wild card slot. On Tuesday, Texas would host the team that lost on Monday with the winner getting the second wild card slot, and the loser getting the opportunity to start Christmas shopping a little early. Then of course, the two wild card teams play each other to determine who wins the chance to lose to the Red Sox in the Division Series.

Part of me is rooting for that three way tie! Imagine having to play three one game playoffs on three consecutive days (I think, the wild card game might be Thursday, but I am pretty sure it’s going to be Wednesday), talk about stress, huh? I don’t really care who wins what, just as long as Tampa Bay doesn’t advance to the Division Series. As far as a Red Sox opponent goes, all three teams scare me, but Tampa Bay’s pitching scares me the most. I would much rather facing the Indians or the Rangers.

We’ll have to hang on and see how it all turns out over the next few days. It definitely looks to be a fun finish to the regular season in the American League, and I haven’t even looked at what’s happening in the National League yet.

Another Celebration

Did you celebrate last night? Did you party into the wee hours? Did you join in the love fest felt all across Red Sox Nation?

We Sox fans have had a lot to celebrate this month. First we clinched a post season spot. While we had our eyes on a bigger prize, we did not get too out of control for that one. Rightfully so. We clinched the American League East. That was the bigger prize. The bubbly flowed free in the Sox clubhouse that night, and many a fan let their glee free as well. Then came the most recent excuse to go crazy in celebration. It happened last night.

The New York Yankees were eliminated from post season contention.

Yeah, baby! Send those damn Yankees home! Give them their little three inch tall participation trophy and wish them a happy off season. I hope you all go on great vacations as you spend your Yankee fortunes. Don’t let the playoff door hit you on the ass on the way out!

It’s only the second time in the last 19 years that the Yankees failed to make the post season.

And it feels so very good.

Go Red Sox

American League East Champions

They did it! The Boston Red Sox avoided the cliche! They made it through the month of September without a horrifying, miserable, historic collapse! They clinched a playoff spot on Thursday, but that wasn’t enough for this group of civil war re enacting misfits. They followed up Thursday by clinching the American League East Division championship with a win over the Blue Jays last night! There was no repeat of 2011 this year. Success! We are in the playoffs and we don’t have to worry about that ridiculous one game wild card play-in.

Bring on the post season! World Champs or bust! Fear the Beards!

Go Red Sox!

The Red Sox are Playoff Bound

I missed the game last night and do I regret it or what! Lackey took a no hitter into the seventh, and then ended up winning 3-1 in a complete game that clinched a wild card spot for the Sox. We are now officially playoff bound.

The magic number for the AL East is now one game, thanks to the combination of the Red Sox winning and the Rays losing last night. Our team could be celebrating a division win tonight if they beat the Blue Jays. Either way, one Red Sox win or Rays loss and we are the AL East champs.

After last season’s schmucko the clown nightmare coming on the heels of the chicken and beer flavored collapse in 2011, none of us thought this team had a chance. I was optimistic that they might finish the season at about .500. I would have been satisfied with that.

Now? It’s World Series or bust at this point. They have become an elite team in major league baseball. They have four pitchers who can match up with almost anyone in the game. They have an offense that can hit off anyone. They have turned into one hell of a baseball team. There is no reason they cannot win it all this year. Detroit will probably still end up being the favorite to win the American League, but it’s got to be a close call. I believe these Red Sox are up to the challenge.

Just wrap up the division tonight and get on with the playoffs!